San Juan Capistrano council orders investigation of two members

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO – An ongoing clash between a community newspaper and San Juan Capistrano officials led the City Council on Tuesday night to order an investigation into allegations of lawbreaking and unethical behavior by two council members.

The request from Councilman Larry Kramer for city staff to consider options for investigating council members Derek Reeve and Roy Byrnes came after Reeve objected to what he described as a phone “push poll” being conducted in the city on behalf of Councilman Sam Allevato, who is the target of a recall campaign.

But Kramer had prepared his request before Reeve mentioned the phone calls. It stemmed from what Kramer said were concerns that Byrnes violated the state’s public records and meetings law by disclosing on Oct. 1 to Kim McCarthy, a member of the activist group Community Common Sense, information that the council discussed confidentially in a closed session regarding newspaper racks on city property. Community Common Sense publishes a newspaper in San Juan Capistrano and Mission Viejo.

Kramer also questioned whether Reeve has violated his “fiduciary duty to the city or any other laws” by legally representing Common Sense in the newspaper-rack issue and in public-records issues while serving on the City Council.

“This one’s difficult for me, but I feel obligated,” Kramer said.

At the council’s next meeting, city staff will present a report detailing options for how to investigate Byrnes and Reeve, including whether to use the city attorney, an independent investigator “or possibly referring those issues to an outside agency such as the grand jury,” Kramer said.

Reeve’s objection to the phone-call poll and Kramer’s request for the investigation sparked heated exchanges Tuesday among council members already tense over the attempt to recall Allevato. At the end of the meeting, an irate Reeve issued an invitation to his fellow council members: “I dare you to censure me. I dare you to report me to a grand jury, because I have an oath to the Constitution that far exceeds any meaningless resolution that might exist from the city.”

Community activist Clint Worthington, a member of the Common Sense editorial board, served Allevato with a notice of intent to recall Sept. 17. The group targeted Allevato due to his support for the city’s groundwater treatment plant and its tiered water-rate system. Allevato filed a brief objection, and organizers will have 120 days from the time their initial petition is certified to gather the approximately 4,800 signatures needed to initiate an election.

Not all Common Sense members are behind the effort, but supporters include John Perry, a plaintiff in a lawsuit against the city regarding the tiered water rates. An Orange County Superior Court judge ruled those rates illegal in a trial last summer. The city has appealed that decision.

Reeve said Tuesday that he’s heard from at least five San Juan Capistrano residents who have received phone calls featuring a voice recording asking leading questions about issues such as water rates and about high-profile people in the community, including Allevato, Reeve, retired Orange County Sheriff Brad Gates and Wyatt Hart, a former San Juan Capistrano mayor and councilman.

Reeve asked Allevato “to put a halt to these dirty tactics, condemn their use and apologize to those who were unfairly attacked.”

But Allevato said he had “nothing to do with a polling, push poll or whatever you call it.”

“I do have my own campaign I’m getting ready to engage in. I have my own organization,” Allevato said. “I don’t know anything about any other organization that may be working to do other issues.”

Minutes later, Allevato joined Kramer in the call for an investigation, criticizing Reeve’s involvement in an incident between Common Sense member Alvin Ehrig and a city employee at the community center last month.

Sheriff’s officials with San Juan Capistrano Police Services investigated reports that Ehrig threatened the employee over placement of newspapers on city property. Reeve is serving as Ehrig’s lawyer and implied in a letter to City Manager Karen Brust that Allevato, Kramer and Mayor John Taylor asked city officials to target members of Common Sense in retaliation for the recall attempt.

“I think your fiduciary responsibility should be to our city employees in protecting them and ensuring a workplace free of any workplace violence,” Allevato said. He called Reeve’s accusations “totally ridiculous and disingenuous” and said his contact with Brust on behalf of Ehrig is “totally a matter of conflict of interest, as well as an ethical violation.”

That drew a livid response from Reeve, who said Kramer “totally mischaracterized my letter.”

“If you want to start talking about ethical violations, well, sir, you’re going to have to stand in line,” Reeve said. “You three just absolutely don’t get it. You just keep digging that hole. So let’s talk about it at the next meeting. I welcome it and I encourage it.”

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